The Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces Command) recently retrofitted 2,717 of these ‘Mine Resistant Protected’ vehicles for service on the streets of the United States.

This in turn was linked by Drudge Report which set this internet hoax in motion.

Here are the facts…

An MRAP is not a light-armored tank but instead an “armored fighting vehicle” whose acronym stands for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected. You will notice too that someone has edited the Wiki page including today’s hoax:

In September 2012, it was reported that the Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces Command) recently retrofitted 2,717 of these ‘Mine Resistant Protected’ vehicles for service on the streets of the United States. The Department of Homeland Security has used MRAPs in Rapid Response Teams in assisting people effected by natural disasters such as Hurricanes.

Now, let’s go back and look at the figure cited in today’s hoax or 2,717 MRAPs. It seems like a high figure already for DHS. Yes, DHS used armored vehicles, but at this time I have not located the exact amount and type of armored vehicles in their fleet. Where is that figure from is the important question and I able to locate a contract for 2,717 MRAP for the United States Navy:

Navistar Defense, L.L.C., Warrenville, Ill., is being awarded an $879,923,195 firm-fixed-priced delivery order 0023 under previously awarded contract (M67854-07-D-5032) for the procurement of 2,717 units of rolling chassis; 10 engineering change proposals; and 25 contract data requirements lists, for MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. Work will be performed in West Point, Miss., and is expected to be completed by the end of October 2013. Procurement funds in the amount of $879,923,195 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The original contract was competitively procured. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity.

The conclusion that the 2,717 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles are for the Department of Homeland Security is false. Instead, they are part of a contract award to the US Navy and will be subsequently used by the United States Marine Corps.

Previous contract M67854-07-D-5032 can be found here and modifications to same contract can found here.

Lisle-based Navistar Defense LLC landed an $880 million order from the U.S. Marine Corps to upgrade more than 2,700 mine resistant ambush protected vehicles, the company announced Tuesday.

The Navistar International Corp. subsidiary will retrofit the MaxxPro vehicles with new rolling chassis to improve their off-road capability.

“As Defense budgets are being reduced, it is imperative that we continue to develop economical solutions that repurpose assets while also working to ensure warfighters have access to emerging technologies and capabilities,” Navistar Defense President Archie Massicotte said in a statement. “Our rolling chassis solution allows us to leverage our unique vehicle design and replace an older chassis with a new, highly mobile independent suspension chassis.”

In summary, the 2,700 vehicles are not for DHS but the USMC by way of the US Navy.

Update 1: Business Insider confirms this report and DHS is only in possession of 16 MRAP and the USMC getting the 2,717:

An earlier version of this post included a figure of over 2,700 vehicles, as cited from the original RT link. This figure likely comes from a press release from Navistar Defense, mentioning delivery of 2,717 to the U.S. Marine Corps. A DHS Spokesman confirmed with Business Insider that they have only 16 nationwide.

Update 2: Foreign Policy updates their story linking with Business Insider.

As one would expect, tales of DHS buying 2,700 MRAPs from the Army (in reality, DHS only has 16, a fleet that it started building around 2008) inflamed the government conspiracy corners of the blogosphere. Just do a quick Google search of the term DHS MRAP and you can see for yourself.

Update 3: Snopes confirms that DHS will not be receiving 2,700 tanks and has determined this to be FALSE.

A March 2013 claim that the Department of Homeland Security had “purchased 2,700 tanks” for use in the U.S. was based on a year-old (i.e., March 2012) announcement that the DHS had engaged a contractor to install new chassis on a number of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles that were being returned from deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan…

LISLE, Ill., March 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Navistar Defense, LLC received an award to conduct the installation work associated with its January order to upgrade 2,717 International® MaxxPro® Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles with a new vehicle chassis. The $21 million contract from the U.S. Army Contracting Command is just one of Navistar’s many reset offerings aimed at revitalizing existing defense assets for future missions.

This is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). Then browse to a site you want to post, select some text on the page to use for a quote, click the bookmarklet, and the Pages posting window will appear with the title, text, and any embedded video or audio files already filled in, ready to go.

Or... you can just click this button to open the Pages posting window right away.

CORAL DAVENPORT and GARDINER HARRISThe New York TimesAugust 1, 2015 WASHINGTON -- In the strongest action ever taken in the United States to combat climate change, President Barack Obama will unveil on Monday a set of environmental regulations devised ...

Saudi Arabia has reiterated its call on the international community to criminalize any act vilifying religious beliefs and symbols of faith as well as all kinds of discrimination based on religion. "We have made it clear that freedom of ...

Fewer than four hundred families are responsible for almost half the money raised in the 2016 presidential campaign, a concentration of political donors that is unprecedented in the modern era. The vast majority of the $388 million backing presidential ...

Over the course of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the number of civilian deaths has been staggering. In Afghanistan, more than 26,000 civilians are estimated to have died since the war began in 2001. In Iraq, conservative tallies ...

People who regularly read my byline will recall that back in April I wrote about poor Scott Walker making a huge gaffe just as it seemed like the Koch brothers, his presumed benefactors, were ready to go all-in on ...

More: abortion-funding-restrictions.pdf Each year Congress passes a set of 12 appropriations bills, which collectively fund government programs from October 1 of one year to September 30 of the next. Anti-choice legislators have continually used these "must-pass" bills as vehicles ...

Just after Barack Obama's re-election in 2012, disappointed conservative thought leaders came together at the annual CPAC conference in Washington, D.C. to strategize. Demoralized but determined, they formed a plan to fight a "30-front war to fundamentally transform the ...

The Clinton campaign added its take on an error-filled New York Times report on a Justice Department inquiry into classified information sent in emails on Hillary Clinton's private server. Unhappy with both the original reporting and how the Times ...

Paul Blumenthal Money in Politics Reporter, The Huffington Post WASHINGTON -- A new oligarchic era of American politics came into full view on Friday, as super PACs disclosed fundraising details showing billionaires bankrolling the 2016 presidential race to an ...

Security experts are warning about a wave of bogus spam emails with malicious attachments, labelled as if they are legitimate copies of the new programme. The attachments contain a "ransomware" programme that, when opened, locks all the data on ...

Thousands of people gathered in cities across the country on Saturday night to protest against the racist and homophobic attacks of the past few days. The demonstrations come in response to Thursday's mass stabbing attack at the Jerusalem Pride ...

When Pages first went live it completely changed our blogging experience here. Who had never wished for a certain story to become a topic here? Then Charles kinda floated this idea about a favorite Pages kinda entry. That was a ...

A man who became agitated about his next-door neighbor mowing her lawn at night shot her and then ran a push mower over her body, authorities said Friday. Newsnet5 reported on Wednesday that Linda Ciotto, 62, was shot in ...

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent Wednesday night at Duke University Law School, reflecting on the term that just ended and other major decisions during her tenure. As the New York Times reported, she talked about what she ...

So this gentleman in Cesena, Italy, really really wants the Foo Fighters to play there. So what does he do? He organizes an event of 1000 guitarists, bass players, drummers & singers all performing the Foo Fighter's hit, "Learn to ...

So this showed up at my house today, it's an election mailer from one Jeffrey Guice who is running for re-election to the Mississippi State Senate. As you can see, it included an interesting detail... So basically he's taking pride ...

I was catching-up with Cracked articles. I found an obvious click-bait article, "4 Sexual Preferences That Only Recently Became Taboo": cracked.com Knowing that, I read it anyway. From there, I read a depressing article, "5 Ways College Screws Over Poor ...

So I downloaded the Win 10 ISO image today, and started the install. The first thing I come across is a screen asking what I want to keep, my apps, data, and program settings, my data and program settings, or ...

NYT -- More Edited PP Videos in the Pipeline The activist behind the videos, David Daleiden, has said he has enough covertly recorded footage for perhaps a dozen videos that he could release, one a week, for the next few ...

Frank says:

I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone's teeth get cleaner? -- In response to Tipper Gore's allegations that music incites people towards deviant behavior, or influences their behavior in general.